Argentina’s peso firmed 0.16 percent to end at 3.14/3.1425 per dollar ARS=RASL in formal interbank trade, where the central bank intervenes directly, as exporters sold large quantities of dollar earnings.

But in informal trade between foreign exchange houses, as measured by Reuters, the peso weakened 0.24 percent to close at 3.17/3.1725 per dollar ARSB=. The peso currency shed 2.6 percent in 2007. (Reporting by Walter Bianchi and Jorge Otaola, Writing by Hilary Burke; editing by Gary Crosse)